


Taegukgi; Skeleton Brothers

by miofilito



Category: Undertale (Video Game), 태극기 휘날리며 | Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War (2004)
Genre: Angst, Anxiety, Anxiety Attacks, Betrayal, Body Horror, Brotherhood, Brotherly Affection, Brotherly Angst, Brotherly Bonding, Brotherly Love, Communists, Crossover, Depressing, Depression, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Gore, Graphic Description, Graphic Description of Corpses, Heavy Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Brainwashing, Light Sadism, Mild Gore, Minor Original Character(s), North Korea, Panic Attacks, Post-Betrayal, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Post-War, Pre-War, Psychological Drama, Psychological Horror, Psychological Trauma, Sad, South Korea - Freeform, Undertale/Taegukgi, Violence, War, both monsters and humans, monsters and humans live in peace with each other, north korean communists, taegukgi - the brotherhood of war, undertale crossover
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-17
Updated: 2016-09-17
Packaged: 2018-08-15 12:23:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8056198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miofilito/pseuds/miofilito
Summary: Sans and Papyrus lived a peaceful life in a small town located in South Korea, together with their mother, Sans' fiancee, and her younger siblings.Until one day, the war came, and the brothers are forced to join the South Korean army and fight the Communists of North Korea.Together, they have to survive the Korean War in order to get home.Mistakes are made, morals are questioned, decisions with horrible consequences blossoms forth against their wills.The brothers' relationship is put at stake.And it's slowly crumbling to dust.





	Taegukgi; Skeleton Brothers

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah, long story short; I fell in love with the movie Taegukgi and then came up with a skelebros crossover for it that i thought was neat over at the Pap Chat Logs. I edited it, and now it’s finally done!  
> And yes, I should be writing on the other fic, but this idea wouldn’t leave my head, so I wrote a lenghty, but less detailed, fanfic of it and here we are~  
> I hope you guys will enjoy it as much as I did writing it~!

Miofilito-Last Sunday at 12:13 PM  
So, in this crossover, Sans would be the older brother Jin-tae Lee, who's a shoe-shiner in a small city in South Korea. and Papyrus is the younger one, who's a student attending college.  
Their family, consisting of the brothers' mother, Sans' fiancé, Young-shin Kim (you can decide which Undertale character that would be) and her sisters, are a kind of poor family who works really hard to gather the money needed for papyrus to attend university.  
However, one day, the south Korean army are forced to evacuate the citizens because of north Korean armies threatening to take over.  
So the brothers and their family have no other choice but to flee to their relative's house far away  
But as they reach the train station, one of the fiancé’s kids gets sick, so Sans hurriedly runs away to find a pharmacy were he can buy some medicine.  
However, as the family waits for Sans to return, cars of the south Korean army arrive at the train station.  
The officer of the army orders for all males between the ages of 18 and 30 to step forward.  
Papyrus and his family are confused. why are they asking for adult males?  
A soldier steps forward to Papyrus.  
"How old are you?"  
Papyrus does the only thing he can think of doing in this befuddling situation.  
Telling the soldier, the truth.  
Who knows what they would do to him otherwise...  
"18..."  
The soldier suddenly grabs a hold of him, not saying anything else as he drags Papyrus towards the train against his will, the skeleton's family desperately trying to stop the soldier from taking their family member away, begging him to stop and let him go.  
Papyrus disappears into the crowd of newly recruited soldiers  
And he doesn't come back.  
Sans finally comes back from his pharmacy-hunting, his task to find medicine ending fruitlessly  
He finds his family.  
But Papyrus is gone.  
He asks his mother and fiancé were his brother is, and dread washes over him as they tell him, the older skeleton realizing what is going to happen to his brother if he doesn't find him in time.  
Sans runs to the train filled with soldier recruits.  
He jumps on, desperately yelling his brother's name as he frantically searches every wagon he can reach.  
But suddenly, soldiers see Sans running through wagon after wagon, and they start hunting him down.  
"SANS!"  
Finally, Sans finds his brother sitting there with a bunch of other young males recruited against their will. But the soldiers hunting the older brother stops the two from going of the train together.  
Sans tries to fight them off, while Papyrus is held restrained by one of the soldiers and yelling for his brother to stop.  
They never get off the train in time.  
The brothers manage to look out the wagon's window and starts yelling for their family.  
The family runs after the train as it starts moving, frantically trying to reach the brothers' out-stretched arms as Sans yells that they'll be alright, Sans will protect his little brother, he'll get the both of them home somehow!  
He begs for his fiancé to take care of his mother for him while they're gone.  
He begs for whatever entity that exist for his family to be safe.  
~~~~ The brothers are situated in one of the army’s camps, not far away from the enemy lines  
They get to experience their very first battle.  
Bombs exploding just inches from a soldier whose eardrums becomes permanently damaged.  
Explosive bottles containing acid hitting a monster soldier, their fur and flesh melting of their face in pools of blood and hissing acid.  
Gunshots fired right through the soldiers’ heads, countless of bodies littering the battlefield and their protective moats  
Papyrus was left in shock, at first.  
Seeing all his comrades dust littering the ground he walked on, knowing with nauseated dread that he could be joining them at any second left inattentive.  
Gagging at the sight and smell of human corpses being burned down to the bone.  
Their scorched, skeletal remnants crushed under his comrades’ weights as they holler in victory, spitting at the enemy's defeat.  
He could never get used to such violence, such cruelty dealt to another sentient being.  
Sans knows this.  
God, how he wished for his brother to be able to go home and work on his studies instead of experiencing this hell.  
To get a degree in some interesting profession to pursue.  
To live a normal life, like he truly deserves.  
So Sans comes up with a plan.  
In the army, one can get a medal of honor that represents a soldier’s true bravery and loyalty to the army that they serve. So Sans talks to his officer about it, and they both come to an agreement.  
If Sans were to obtain the medal of honor, he would be able to send Papyrus home as a reward for his hard work.  
So in order to get the medal, he will need to do a butt-load of risky missions that could score his rank in the army.  
Like killing a bunch of people without getting killed.  
Volunteering in missions that could cost him either his life or his sanity...  
Capturing people...  
Interrogating with the enemy...  
Planting deadly mines at the enemy lines...  
Papyrus is pissed about Sans' decisions, to say the least.  
He knows that his older brother is doing it so he can send Papyrus home.  
But Papyrus doesn't want to go home.  
Not without his brother.  
Sans is stubborn, telling Papyrus that it's the only way for either of them to survive, telling him that he won't survive as a soldier in the war.  
Papyrus still has a future to pursue, a life worth living to the fullest.  
But Papyrus doesn't want to give up his brother in order to get that kind of future.  
They're in this together, Papyrus says. He's not sacrificing another person's life for his own gains, especially not someone who he loves dearly.  
But Sans doesn't agree with Papyrus' principles.  
He just wants Papyrus to be safe, to be able to go back home and live a normal life like he should.  
So Sans continues putting his life at risk.  
Volunteering for deadly tasks, only for his brother's sake.  
One day, Sans is finally recruited as a sergeant for his and his brother's troops for a job well done.  
Sans gets the honor of hanging out with the higher officers, getting interviewed by American television, getting to eat fancy food and liquor.  
Papyrus is on his own, sitting with a couple of friends from his troop as they talk about Sans' accomplishments, their reassurances that with guys like Sans, they'll surely have an easier time at the battlefield killing the communists of North Korea.  
Sans is praised by every soldier, every officer.  
And he's letting his pride get the better of him...  
Sans wobbles towards his little brother, his little sunshine, his little bundle of joy sitting with a food tray and not looking all that dandy.  
He's clearly drunk, but he doesn't care. Who cares? It's about time he got something good to drink after all that hard work for his awesome bro. He deserves to have some fun and enjoying himself, right?  
The older skeleton trips as he slowly reaches his cool little brother and lays a hand on his shoulder, crouching so that he can see him face to face, so he can see that giddy smile of his and giggle at the way his little bro’s eye sockets literally sparkle in joy when he sees what Sans has brought him.  
Because Sans didn't forget about his bro when he was having a good time with the higher-ups, oh no.  
He has a little surprise for him, one that was sure to make his younger brother very happy.  
But when Sans finally locks his gaze on the other, Papyrus isn't smiling.  
He kind of looks mad.  
What? Why would he be mad? Nah, that can't be right, Sans didn't do anything to annoy his brother, did he? He was just hanging out with some new friends and drank a little bit, no biggie. No reason to be mad, everything's fine, right?  
*Hic* "Hhheeeeeeyyy bro~ Guess what I got for ya’~?"  
Sans reaches his free hand inside his jacket, bringing out multiple blocks of chocolate wrapped in purple wrappers and swaying them in front of Papyrus' face.  
"Gotta' bunch‘a candy and snacks from da 'murica people~! And look! *Hic* It’s your favorite brand too~!"  
Papyrus doesn't move, his facial expression still stone cold and his weary eye sockets never sparkling up like they're supposed to.  
Sans is too drunk to take notice of his brother's behavior.  
*Hic* "Whelp, now that I’m a sergeant and all that jazz, I can get ya’ as much chocolate as you ever want~! Isn't that great~?"  
Not really expecting to get an answer to the unimportant question, Sans proceeds to put the chocolate in Papyrus jacket as the younger just sits there, watching his older brother with both anger and concern over his drunken state.  
Papyrus doesn't even bother to scold him about his horrible decisions.  
His older brother would be too drunk to even remember it the next day anyway...  
*Hic* "Yeah yeah, I know. I'm drunk, but it's okay bro~ It's aaaallll fine man~ I’ll probably won't be that hungover 'to-marrow', so you ain't gotta take care of my shit like you usually have to when I’m drunk~"  
Sans suddenly decides to lay down for a bit on the dirty ground, apparently too woozy to even sit upright at this point.  
*Hic* "It'll be alright, bro~ I'll get that medal soon, don't worry~ Imma get ya home soon, ya hear~? mom's gonna be really happy to see ya' again~ she'll be so... happy..."  
Sans mumbles, finally passing out on the ground as he snores loudly.  
Papyrus doesn't know what to think of his brother at this point.  
He just wants everything to go back to normal again.  
Why did it all have to turn out this way…?

~~~~

The next night, Papyrus asks someone to deliver a letter to his family for him.  
Sans wasn't there to write it with him.  
He was too busy hanging out with the higher-ups.  
When Sans finally comes back during the night, he finds Papyrus sitting by himself, away from all his comrades partying and having a good time for once in their lives as dogs for the army.  
"Hey bro. It's getting cold out here. Maybe it's time to head back and rest up for tomorrow?"  
Papyrus doesn't answer him, only looking down on the ground with a solemn expression on his face.  
"You felt like a stranger to me, yesterday." Papyrus says suddenly, keeping his gaze on the ground.  
"I kept worrying..."  
He pauses, still keeping his eye sockets on the ground.  
"I’ve been thinking about things... And there's one thing I want you to do."  
He fiddles with the small pockets on his pants, contemplating on his unspoken request.  
"Please forget about the medal… It's not worth it."  
Papyrus finally turns to his brother, who's avoiding his younger brother's gaze now that he has finally achieved it.  
But papyrus continues.  
"You're the only brother I have... And we have to go back alive."  
Papyrus pauses, looking back to the ground in deep cogitation.  
"You know, right? I was so scared when dad died, and mom rarely spoke anymore. But you helped me get through it all."  
Sans is still silent.  
He keeps avoiding eye contact.  
"Sans..."  
A small smile starts growing on Papyrus' face at his next sentence.  
"The day after tomorrow, you were supposed to get married to ****** (his fiancé')  
Sans looks up from the ground in realization.  
He had completely forgot about that.  
"I hope you think about her, and all our family. Not only me..."  
Sans doesn't answer.

~~~~

The next day, the brothers and their troop are fighting the communists in a city being overtaken by them.  
The communists are losing, and their leader is getting away.  
Sans sees his opportunity to strike.  
Surely, if he manages to get the leader alive, the officers will be very pleased by his bravery and devotion.  
Surely, that'll be enough for them to give him the medal of honor.  
But Sans' troop isn't supposed to get the leader, one of his comrades says. That's troop number 3's job!  
But Sans could care less about that.  
He runs, leaving his troop behind who tries to keep up with their sergeant.  
And so is Papyrus.  
He yells for his brother to stop and come back.  
But Sans doesn't listen.  
He manages to catch up with the communists' leader.  
But he and the other rank-ups gets in a car and tries to flee with it.  
Sans is quick on his feet however, easily maneuvering every gunshot, every explosion of mines planted on the ground, every grenade thrown in the air and almost hitting him.  
Suddenly, the car is driving right towards him.  
Sans stands in the way, aiming his rifle at the driver's head.  
Three shots in, and he hits the bulls-eye.  
The car sways uncontrollably, until it finally crashes, and spins around on the ground over and over.  
Thankfully, the leader is still alive.  
But not unarmed.  
Sans gets into combat with him, his rifle thrown away by the leader who tries to shoot the skeleton with his own gun.  
They wrestle against each other on the ground, when one of Sans' comrades finally reaches him.  
It's Dogamy.  
Dogamy tries to aim at the leader, but he can't shoot if Sans keeps moving against his target.  
Sans doesn't want Dogamy to shoot.  
Because he needs to keep the leader alive if he's ever going to get that medal.  
So he continues to struggle against the target, making it impossible for the dog monster to shoot his target.  
They don't notice the leader's comrade crawling out of the remains of the car.  
And he's armed with a gun too.  
The communist comrade reveals himself to the soldiers as he aims his gun at Dogamy.

They don't react until it's too late.

He shoots.

And the gunshot hits Dogamy in the chest.

He falls to the ground, still alive, but is bordering on death.

Sans doesn't save him.

He manages to grab the leader's gun, shooting at the leader's comrade who falls to the ground, to then aim it at the communist beneath him as a warning if he were to struggle even more.

Dogamy bleeds.

But Sans doesn't save him.

He's too occupied with wrestling against the hostage underneath him.

The other comrades, Greater Dog, Dogaressa, Punk Hamster and Papyrus finally comes to the rescue.

But it's too late.

Dogaressa doesn't get the time to even say goodbye before Dogamy is turned to dust.

And Sans still didn't try to save him.

The rest of the army troops finally reaches Sans and the others, detaining the communist leader and declaring victory, for now.  
But Dogaressa is still grieving her husband's death.  
And she's furious with Sans.  
"Why didn't you try to save him?! How could you just let him die like that?!!! He was your friend!!!"  
"You sacrificed my husband for the enemy just to get that stupid medal?! You heartless bastard!!! How could you?!?!"  
Dogaressa never forgives Sans for his selfish decision.  
Neither does Papyrus.

~~~~

Later, after Papyrus has been avoiding his older brother for the remainder of the day, Sans finally tries to talk to him privately.  
It doesn't go all that well.  
"That medal... Who are you really doing this for?"  
Angry, hurtful tears are gathering in Papyrus' eye sockets as he tries to keep his emotions in check.  
"You love being a hero, don't you? Promotions, parties, interviews... Who knows? You might even become battalion commander, right?!" Papyrus spits out, his low voice filled with hurt and venom towards his brother.  
"Keep this in mind, Dogamy's wife, Dogaressa, will bear a grudge against you forever. She'll never forgive you for what you did. Doesn't that bother you at all?! Don't you care about her or Dogamy?!"  
Sans flinches, finally answering his younger brother’s reprimands for once.  
"Stop it."  
"If you'd listened to me back there, he wouldn't be dead now! Do you know why he died?! Do you know what you were doing while he was dying?! What good is the medal when our own people are dying for it?!" Papyrus snaps at him. Papyrus’ tears trail down his bony cheeks, his eye sockets staring down at Sans, filled with hatred and betrayal.  
They stare at each other for a moment, Sans' face barely displaying any emotion other than exhaustion.  
"Not another word." Sans says.  
And walks away.  
Leaving Papyrus with his own grief to take care of.

~~~~

The war continues.  
Sans and Papyrus continue to fight the communists in battle.  
As expected, Sans is very skilled at killing people at this point in time.  
He feels no remorse when he stabs a communist officer in the stomach, his last words of insults left on deaf ears as he falls to the ground.  
He feels no regrets as he shoots another unarmed human's brains out.  
He doesn't react to the endless amounts of gore littering the ground or his uniform anymore.  
He doesn't care about anything else but his objective.  
To kill the enemy.  
Receive praise and honor.  
And get the medal.  
So he can finally send his little brother home to safety.  
Papyrus always hesitates every time he has to kill someone, even if it is the enemy.  
"Please, don't kill me! Please, I have a family to feed! I was forced into becoming a communist!!! I didn't want to kill anyone, please, please!"  
Sometimes, papyrus doesn't have the courage to do it.  
So someone else has to do it for him instead.  
Like his brother.  
His brother who just grabbed a human communist by the neck, throwing him into a bonfire while still alive, pushing the human's struggling body down deeper and deeper as his head engulfs in flames, melting and scorching his face into coal.  
Papyrus never expected in his life to ever see such cruelty delivered from his own brother.  
He desperately hoped with all of his being and to whatever entity that exists above him  
That Sans wasn't becoming one of those people.  
That he wasn't turning into someone who actually found some kind of contentment in killing all of those people.  
Hoping, so very, very desperately, that Sans wasn't going to become insane from all of this.  
One day, the two brothers and the rest of the troops reaches an abandoned village, where the communists very likely killed as many villagers they could get, with how the ground was littered with both dust and dirty clothing.  
Sans and his troop throws in grenades in every mine they can find, just to make sure that no enemies are left alive.  
Suddenly, in one of the mines, they hear someone yelling.  
Four monsters, all of them wearing the communists’ uniforms, walks out and surrenders to their enemy.  
They scream for mercy, begging for Sans and his troop to not kill them.  
But then, Papyrus lowers his weapon.  
He recognizes one of those monsters.  
That particular monster used to be his and Sans best friend.  
They used to hang out together long before this stupid war had started.  
But... Why was he wearing their enemy's uniform?  
Why was he on their side? He never was a communist, as far as Papyrus knew.  
"Doggo...?" Papyrus says, confusing both his comrades and his brother when he drops his rifle and clutches Doggo in a firm grip.  
"Papyrus?! Oh my god...!"  
Doggo answers frantically, relieved to finally see his friend again.  
"I-I was forced to join the North Korean army, they would've killed me and my family otherwise Papyrus! I promise you, I'm not lying! it's the truth, I didn't want to join, but I didn't have a choice!"  
Papyrus hugs him, feeling nothing but empathy for his poor friend.  
"It's okay Doggo, don't cry..."  
Papyrus reaches for his bottle of water, giving it to Doggo.  
"Here, drink this."  
Doggo complies eagerly, hastily drinking up every drop he's offered.  
All the soldiers are perplexed by Papyrus' action, every one of them looking at Sans for him to tell them what to do next.  
"Should I report?" One of the soldiers says, waiting for Sans answer.  
The sergeant gaze switches between Papyrus and Doggo for a moment, his facial expression never changing from his cold and authoritative one.  
Doggo finally sees Sans standing there too, his face lighting up slightly in hope and relief at the older brother.  
"Sans!"  
Sans ignores him, but keeps his eye sockets on both the dog monster and his younger brother, who's hand is comfortably rubbing Doggo's back in consolation.  
"Report that all the enemies were killed in battle." Sans says monotonously.  
Papyrus looks at Sans, confused by his words. "What are you talking about?"  
"They'll be excess baggage." Sans continues, pointing his rifle at both Doggo and the rest of the apprehended communists for emphasize.  
Papyrus scowls at his brother. "This is Doggo! He was like a brother to you!"  
Sans doesn't budge at all.  
"All I see now is a communist." He answers coldly.  
Dread washes over Doggo, his once hopeful face only conveying hurt and sorrow at Sans' words.  
"Sans... C-come on, I'm your friend!"  
"I know shoeshine boy Doggo, but that's not you. Not anymore."  
Sans gestures for the soldiers to take the group of enemies away, but Papyrus doesn't move. he stretches his arms in a protective stand in front of Doggo.  
"Papyrus, get out of the way!" One of the soldiers says.  
"Were not communists!" Doggo yells back in desperation.  
"He was forced to join their army!" Papyrus yells at Sans.  
"Papyrus, step back." Sans says in slight frustration of his younger brother's actions.  
Sans' comrades grab a hold of Papyrus, trying to drag him away from Doggo and his small group.  
"Wha- Let me go!"  
"No no, Sans please, don't kill me, please Sans!" Doggo wails as the panic kicks in.  
He tries to grab Sans in his desperation for mercy, but is only pushed back on the ground.  
"Get your filthy hands off of me." The sergeant growls, kicking the dog monster trying to hug his leg as he keeps begging for dear life.  
Papyrus manages to free himself from his comrades, hurriedly rushing back to Doggo as he threatens Sans' authority.  
"Go ahead, and I’ll report that you kill unarmed soldiers! We're no better than the communists killing civilians! You're all crazy! They're hostages!"  
One of the soldiers steps forward.  
"You know what they did! they're animals!" The soldier argues.  
"If we kill them, we're animals too!" Papyrus retorts.  
"It was them who started the war!" The soldier answers angrily.  
"We're the same, no better, no worse!" Papyrus continues, grabbing the soldiers rifle and pointing at Doggo and his friends. "Come on, shoot then! Kill these innocent people, like the soulless animal that you all are!"  
"What are you waiting for? Shoot!" Papyrus yells sarcastically at his comrades and his brother, standing in front of Doggo in were the soldiers are aiming.  
Sans watches him deadpan, his soldiers looking at him for the cue to shoot or not.  
Sans motions for them to lower their weapons and take the group of enemies with them alive instead.  
"Today's your lucky day." Sans spits out at them with venom, and walks away.  
The group of communists are taken by Sans' troop, and uses them as slaves for their dirty work.  
One day, as Doggo is working on building a tent with soldiers watching his every move, Papyrus comes by with paper bags filled with bread, which he shares with Doggo and the other enemy slaves.  
They sit down together as Doggo eats his meal, grateful to Papyrus for saving him and his friends.  
"Are you okay?" Papyrus asks the dog monster.  
"Yeah, I feel fine." Doggo answers with a small, hopeful smile before taking a bite of the slightly dry bread.  
Papyrus stays silent for a while before continuing, letting Doggo take his time eating in peace.  
"I filed a report about you with the regimental office." Papyrus finally says with an encouraging smile.  
Doggo smiles back, his gratitude for the skeleton's kindness and compassion growing even more.  
"Thanks a lot, pal."  
His smile suddenly falters as he looks down to the ground.  
"Sans is... Not who he used to be, back at home. He's changed so much..."  
Papyrus frowns sadly at that, unable to give a reassuring answer to that fact.  
"You know, just before I left the town, I met your mom and ****." Doggo suddenly says, quickly grabbing Papyrus attention.  
"Really?!" Papyrus responds, his face lightning up with hopeful joy. "How are they? When did they come back home?"  
"Just after you were drafted. Your mom wanted to be home in case you came back." Doggo answers solemnly. "She asked people about you. Whenever she saw me, she started crying... Because I reminded her of you two..."  
"And **** was having a hard time taking care of everyone. The commies wouldn't let her run the noodle stand, so she attended rallies all day long. It's the only way for her to get food for your family."  
Papyrus' joy was short-lived, as he got to hear the condition his family was left in. The duo fell into silence once again.  
The next day, the South Korean army is having the upper hand, confident on winning the war and finishing it for good.  
The soldiers holler in celebration at the news  
"Sergeant Sans!" One of the higher-ups call, clapping his hand on Sans' shoulder as he announces;  
"Congratulations! You'll get the medal of honor!"  
Sans eye sockets widens at the news.  
"I knew you would make it! You got it for catching that leader alive! The commander is very pleased!" Tomorrow the commander will award it to you himself! Give him a round of applause, everyone!"  
The soldiers’ applauses and hollers encouragingly to Sans, who takes it all in surprise and pride.  
Sans suddenly sees Papyrus walking by, ignoring the people's celebrations and praise.  
"Papyrus!" Sans calls after him, running over to him and trying to keep up with his younger brother's long strides.  
"Let's talk." Sans says, grabbing his brother by the shoulder as he just keeps walking without any signs of stopping.  
Papyrus doesn't look at him.  
"Make it quick. I'm on duty." He replies, his voice low and emotionless.  
Sans tries to ignore Papyrus' disdainful behavior.  
"You'll be able to go home soon, and go back to school again. You've missed quite a lot, but if I know my bro right, you'll catch up in no time!"  
Papyrus still doesn't look at him.  
"You're the one who needs to go home." Papyrus finally answers in distaste, keeping his gaze straight-forward. "You're sick."  
Sans frowns, clearly affected by his brother's words as he grabs his arm to make him turn around.  
"I'm not going home." He says with vexed irritation at the younger skeleton. "You'll do what I say."  
"I don't want anything from you." Papyrus counters, yanking his arm off Sans' firm grip and tries to walk away.  
"Papyrus, listen to me." Sans orders, trying fruitlessly to grab a hold of him.  
But Papyrus continues to walk, trying to ignore his brother's calls.  
Sans slides up in front of Papyrus, blocking his way.  
"What's wrong with you?" He asks confusedly, the vexation growing immensely as he growls out the words. "I worked my ass off for that medal! This is a great chance for us!"  
"For you maybe, but not for me!" Papyrus snarls back at him. "Have you thought about what that medal means?!"  
"I don't care what it means." Sans retorts. "I needed one to send you home."  
"That medal costed Dogamy's life!" Papyrus counters. "I won't go home."  
"you have to go to college, Papyrus."  
"What good is college now?!" Papyrus snaps, looking at Sans with hateful anger. "I hate everything you stand for, Sans. Don't tell me what to do. I will make my own decisions, not obey yours!"  
Sans keeps eye contact with his stubborn brother, not wavering from his initial objective one bit.  
"Do you really want either of us to die?"  
"Then you go home instead!"  
"What did I risk my life for?!"  
"I didn't ask you to do it, Sans!"

* SLAP! *

Papyrus blinks.

Did... Did his brother just...?

Sans looks almost equally as shocked from the sudden slap of his left hand hitting his younger brother's cheek.

He lowers it.

He looks down.

Silence hangs between the two as Papyrus eye sockets starts to tear up in justified anger.

Sans doesn't look him in the eye as he speaks again.

"I... I want you to get home alive... I also want to go home; you know... But you are our family's dream and hope. I never regretted giving up school and shining shoes for you! Mom happily broke her back for you, just to get enough money to pay your studies! Do you know our sacrifices?! "  
"I know them all!" Papyrus finally speaks up, hurtful tears running down his cheeks. "Why am I the only one you think about? If you thought about your fiancé and Dogamy, you wouldn't have done it!" He growls at his brother once again.  
Sans finally looks up at Papyrus, his face only conveying determination as he says;  
"I don't care what you think, as long as you can get home."  
Papyrus doesn't answer him.  
he knows he can't get through to him anyway.

Suddenly, the alarm blares over the campus.

The enemy is closing in on them, fast.  
Everyone in the camp is ordered to evacuate the premises.  
Jeeps are driving at full speed, away from the enemy.  
The remaining soldiers who can't fit into the cars runs beside them, desperately trying to catch up as bombs and grenades starts raining down on them, one after another.  
Sans and his troop are in charge of taking care of the communist hostages they captured earlier.  
"How far are we going to carry them?" One of Sans' comrades asks him.  
Sans doesn't answer him.  
A bomb nearly hits one of his soldiers.  
The man falls to the ground from the sudden explosion, unable to get up again.  
So one of the hostages takes the chance.  
The communist hostage runs over to the wounded man, snatching his gun.  
He kills the injured man, and shoots anyone who tries to hurt him in self-defense.  
The other captives try to flee from the soldiers, running over the field filled with explosions and fresh corpses.  
Sans sees the hostage shooting the officer, killing him.  
And becomes furious.  
"Bastards...!"  
Suddenly, a hostage grabs a soldier's knife, straggles the man, and threatens to kill him if any of them tries to make a move.  
"Stay back or I’ll kill him!" He yells, the rest of what's left of the communist captives hiding behind their friend, including Doggo.  
Sans and his soldiers aims their rifles at the enemy, his comrades silently waiting for the sergeant to give them their next order.  
"Put the dagger away!" Sans commands, but the hostage doesn't comply.  
"Come any closer and I’ll kill him!" The hostage screams back at him.  
A soldier in his troop yells for Sans to kill them all.  
The captives are surrounded by Sans' comrades, all of them awaiting their leader's cue to fire.  
Another soldier yells for the skeleton to hurry up and finish them off.  
"Shoot him!"  
"Just kill them already!"  
"Hurry up and shoot them!"  
Papyrus is frozen in place.  
He doesn't know what to do.  
He just hopes that Sans and the others won't shoot.  
He desperately hopes for them to not shoot Dog-!

* BAM!!! *

Sans shoots.

And hits Doggo in the chest.

"NO!!!" Papyrus screams, running towards his friend falling to the ground. "No no, Doggo, come on! Don't die on me here!"

Doggo's eyes are closed.

He doesn't wake up.

"Doggo! DOGGO!"

No answer.

Everyone just stands there, deathly still, as they watch Papyrus cry over the dog monster who swiftly turns to dust.  
They don't say anything.  
Neither does Sans.  
He starts walking away, silent and cold-faced, ignoring his brother's cries.  
But Papyrus doesn't let him.  
He stands up, dashes towards his older brother and tackles him to the ground as he cries out in fury over Sans' actions.  
"ARE YOU CRAZY?!" He screams, hitting Sans over and over with his bare fists. Sans doesn't hit back, but tries to overthrow his younger brother in their violent roughhousing.  
"How could you?! How could you do that to Doggo?! You bastard!!!"  
"Stop it!" Sans yells back at him, almost letting his anger make him hit his younger brother with a clenched fist, but instantly stops his movements.  
"Bring him back!" Papyrus yells at him as he continues to wrestle. "You murderer!"  
"What the hell are you doing?!" One of the soldiers yells at the two. Their comrades try to separate the brothers from each other. "You two knock it off!"  
The brothers finally stop fighting, for now, and hurries away from the battlefield with the other soldiers before the enemy gets them.  
They fled.

~~~~

Days go by.  
The army has retreated to the city were the brothers' family lives.  
And Sans is finally given the medal of honor.  
Papyrus hates it.  
Because he knows what kind of sins and sacrifices Sans has committed to get that medal.  
“Sir, may I have a word with you?" Sans asks his officer after being given the medal.  
"Go ahead." The officer answers.  
"Sir, it's about my younger brother..." The skeleton continues.  
"Ah yes, I'll make an official request with the division commander." The man answers.  
Sans is beyond relieved.  
"Thank you, sir."  
Later on, Sans looks for his brother.  
"Have you guys seen Papyrus anywhere?" He asks his troop.  
"He left a minute ago." One of the soldiers answer.  
"By himself?" Sans replies.  
"Yes." Another soldiers says. "He said he was going to see your mom. Apparently, she's sick or something."  
Alarmed by the news, Sans heads for their house to look for Papyrus.  
Meanwhile, Papyrus reaches his home. On his way over there, he sees men in black clothing dragging people away against their will, throwing them onto trucks with other people who all look scared and worried.  
What's happening?  
Papyrus is too busy finding his mom however, as he finally runs into the house, only to find it empty.  
Where's mom? And ****?  
"Mom?!" He calls.  
But no one answers.  
"Papyrus?"  
The skeleton turns around in surprise as he hears his name being called by a female's voice.  
Standing there, is Sans' fiancée.  
They just stand there for a moment, almost not believing what they're seeing, until Papyrus finally rushes over and hugs her, his eye sockets filling up with tears yet again.  
"Thank god, you're alive." She says with a relieved sigh, her eyes blank with tears. "This isn't a dream, is it?"  
Papyrus huffs a sad chuckle at her last sentence, fervently rubbing away his tears with his jacket sleeve as he looks at her in relief.  
"I ran into Doggo, he said mom was sick?"  
"Don't worry, she's feeling much better now." She answers. "She's back at work."  
"How is Sans? Why didn't he come?" She continues.  
Papyrus stays silent for a moment.  
"He's fine. He's just really busy right now."  
Her shoulders sags in relief.  
"Oh, that's good. Your mother is so worried about you two."  
Suddenly, a truck drives up to their house.  
Four men exits the car, two of them clad in black, walking towards Sans' fiancée and Papyrus.  
"Are you ****?" One of the men asks the woman.  
"Yes, I am?" She answers, confused as to why these men were looking for her.  
"Come with me. You're under investigation." The man continues, the other men firmly grabbing Sans' fiancée by her arms.  
"Wha- for what?" She asks in alarm to their sudden actions, but the men don’t answer her. They try to drag her away.  
"Hey! What is this?!" Papyrus calls out as he tries to get the woman back from them. "Who the hell are you?! Let her go!"  
"Papyrus?!" She calls back to the skeleton, scared of what these men were going to do with her.  
Papyrus threatens them to release her with his rifle, but the men easily grabs him before he gets the chance to shoot.  
"Put the son of a bitch on, check if he's a communist too!" One of the men yells to the others.  
What?  
What the hell are they talking about?!  
Papyrus wasn't a communist; Neither was Sans' fiancée!  
The truck drives away with the skeleton monster and the woman, until they reach the army's camp.  
When the truck suddenly stops, Papyrus is grabbed off by one of the soldiers. but Sans' fiancée is still on the truck as it drives away again.  
"Papyrus?!"  
"****!"  
The soldier holding Papyrus drags him into a building filled with long corridors.  
"What is this place?" The skeleton monster asks in confusion.  
"This is where we investigate Commies like ****." The soldier holding him answers.  
"You're making a mistake!" Papyrus snarls at him.  
"We'll see about that." The man replies monotonously. "Get in there."  
Papyrus is thrown into a room.

Meanwhile, Sans is running through the army's camp, looking for his brother.  
But then suddenly, Sans sees something.  
Near a big concrete building, is a big pit filled with dead civilians. soldiers are standing in a line opposite of it, just a couple meters away from the civilians standing in front of the pit with their hands behind their heads.  
They're about to be executed by the soldiers aiming their rifles at them.  
The remaining soldiers are forcing civilians to sit in front of the pit against their will.  
One of those civilians are Sans' fiancée.

Meanwhile, Papyrus uses his ink-pencil to stab the soldier dragging him in the neck.  
He succeeds.  
And he runs.

Sans' fiancée is sitting in front of the pit filled with dead bodies, panicking.  
"Don't even think about it." Sans says, pointing his rifle at the leader who gives the orders to the soldiers killing the civilians.  
"Let's not hurt each other." He continues as the man watches him in bafflement. "****, get up."  
his fiancée slowly stands up with tears in her eyes.  
"Sans..."  
"Where's Papyrus?" Sans asks her, not once leaving his eye sockets on the man in front of him.  
The woman steps towards Sans, shaking. "H-he was taken to the front building."  
Sans stays silent for a moment.  
"What's going on?" He asks her, not letting his guard or rifle down.  
"T-they just said I was under investigation and took me here."  
"We're executing traitors according to the law." A soldier says suddenly.  
"I don't care what you're doing. I’m taking her." Sans replies to him.  
"Then you're a communist, too." The soldier retorts.  
"I don't think so." Sans snarls back.  
The man in front of Sans' rifle retrieves a bunt of papers inside his jacket, reading them out-loud.  
****, 23, signed up for the communist party on June 23. We have her signature."  
"I only wrote my name on it to get food! I didn't know what it was!" Sans' fiancée argues.  
"She worked for the communist party 35 times and participated in numerous communist rallies."  
"We were starving! We had to get food somehow! She continued to retort. "The South Korean government gave us nothing!"  
"Shut up!" The soldier from before yells. "You step away-"  
"Don't be stupid!" Sans growls, yanking his rifle against the man in front of him in anger.  
"-or you'll be dead too."  
Sans suddenly grabs one of his grenades from his belt.  
"Touch her and you're all dead!" Sans growls back.  
"This is your last warning. Step. Away." The soldier replies.  
"Don't move!"  
A voice booms out from behind the soldiers.  
It's Papyrus, holding a soldier by the neck and pointing a gun at him.  
"Or you won't walk away in one piece!" The young skeleton continues, standing just inches from the soldiers with a gun pointing at them.  
"Do you even know what you're doing?" The soldier snarls at the two brothers.  
"I'm stopping you from killing innocent people!" Papyrus replies.  
"Get her out of here!" He yells to Sans, but the older can't move away without risking of getting shot.  
"You want to save a whore?" One of the soldiers says suddenly. "She was with every single North Korean officer!"  
"Shut your damn mouth before I blow it off!" Sans growls once again at the soldier.  
"That's why she isn't fleeing..." The man in front of Sans says.  
"That's not true!" Sans' fiancée cries out.  
"Don't pretend you don't know. It's no use denying it."  
"NO, that's a lie!" The woman yells back at the soldiers.  
"Sans, go now!" Papyrus yells to his brother.  
"Last warning." The man threatened by Sans' rifle says. "If you take her out of here, you two are commies too."  
"No, Sans..." Sans' fiancée cries, tears trailing down her cheeks. "Sans, believe me..."  
"Sans, get the hell out of here!" Papyrus continues to yell at this brother.  
"Stop right there!"  
The rest of the civilians try to flee during the ruckus, but two soldiers easily shoots them down.  
Seeing his chance to strike, Papyrus fights off the soldiers around him.  
Sans sees his chance to battle too, and starts shooting down the soldiers around him.  
Everything gets out of hand.  
Civilians trying to flee, soldiers shooting haywire.  
Sans tries to fight the man he threatened to kill in front of him.  
Papyrus tries to fight off the soldiers attacking him.  
Sans drops his rifle.  
Sans' fiancée trips on her feet, and Sans helps her stand up again.  
They try to run, Sans taking the lead.

Suddenly, there's the sound of a gunshot just behind him.

Right were his fiancée is standing.

He turns around.

Only to find his fiancée staggering on her feet with a hole in her chest.

She falls.

He falls to his knees beside her, screaming her name.

"****!!!"

Papyrus sees it all.

And tries to reach them.

"****, hold on!" Sans calls to her, her eyelids fluttering and body going limp.

She looks at him, tears falling from her eyes as she tells him her last words.  
"Sans...Y-you don't know... How much I’ve missed you...All this time... I... didn't do anything shameful, believe me...Please... I did nothing, Sans..."  
Sans doesn’t answer her pleads, too shocked to be able to form any words. He stares at her in desperation and grief.  
"I-I can't die now..." She continues, slowly slipping away. "H-how can I die now...? 

“M-my siblings... People..."

"…Sans..."

She stills. 

Her body goes completely limp.

Her eyes are closed.

She's gone…

Sans looks down on his fiancée in shock, uncomprehending of what just happened as silent tears falls down from his eye sockets.  
He hugs her close, so close.  
Whispers her name, vainly hoping that this is all just a dream, that it's not real, not happening.  
But a soldier suddenly grabs a hold of him, dragging him away from his future wife's body.  
He cries out for her, struggling against the man pressing his rifle against Sans' neck.  
She doesn't answer him.  
Another soldier lifts her body up unceremoniously, only to throw it into the pit of innocent corpses like a ragdoll.  
Papyrus is pushed down by a soldier, not getting to Sans and his fiancée in time.  
He sees her body lying in the pit.  
He sees his brother crying out for her, conveying more emotions than he's ever seen him doing ever since the war started.  
The young skeleton cries, too.

~~~~

Sans and Papyrus are put in a ruined building with other hostages and traitors.  
the brothers sit a good couple of meters away from each other.  
Papyrus is furious.  
Sans is empty.  
The younger looks at his apathetic brother with pure anger in his eye sockets, blaming the older skeleton for the woman's death.  
"Why did you question her?" Papyrus asks in a low tone, staring his brother down as if that action itself could answer his question.  
He doesn't get an answer.  
"I saw how you hesitated back then." Papyrus continues, spitting out the words like they were a disgusting taste that needed to be thrown up. "You could've saved her."

Sans doesn't answer him.

He just stares at the ground, unmoving.

Uncaring.

Papyrus clenches his phalanges deeper into his sleeves.

"She's dead... because of you..." Papyrus growls, tears never stopping from trailing down his bony cheeks.

"it's your fault..."

Sans doesn't answer…

Sans never answers.

~~~~

Later on, Sans is called over by one of the officers for interrogation.  
"You shot members of the anti-communist federation?!" The officer yells at him. "The medal of honor doesn't give you the right to shoot anyone! How can we fight this war with screw-ups like you?!"  
Sans doesn't answer him, only staring straight-forward as he tries to contain his anger.  
"Send my brother home." Sans suddenly says, still unmoving from his spot.  
"My former commander promised to send him home." Sans continues, proceeding by taking of the medal from his uniform and laying it down on the officer's working desk.  
"What kind of bullshit is this?!" The officer spits out. "You earn a damn medal and your brother is discharged?!"  
"You only have to report it." Sans counters.  
"I don't believe this! I don't give a shit what he promised you!" The officer retorts. "You think this is a business deal or something?! You can think of what you've done in the cell!"  
"Lock him up!" The officer tells the soldier standing by the door frame.  
* KABOOM!!! *  
A bomb explodes into the outside wall, cement blocks flying off and knocking out the soldier.  
The communists are attacking.  
The officer is wounded, but he manages to grab the phone handle on the radio monitor and call the one on the other side to retreat.  
"I don't give a shit about the order, just retreat!"  
Sans suddenly grabs the soldier on the ground's gun, and straggles the officer on the phone with the gun to his head.  
"Open the cells." Sans commands.  
"You're crazy!"  
"Give the order!" Sans threatens.  
"Those commies will kill you first!"  
"I only want my brother out."  
"Not until we finish examining your heads first!"  
Sans knocks him with the gun, shaking the officer in his state of fury. "Give the order, NOW!"  
The officer brings the phone handle to his ear, finally complying to Sans' orders.  
"One more thing..." The officer says through the phone. "The hostages...Burn them!"  
Sans knocks him again, pushing the gun down the officer chest. "Change the order!"  
"Put the gun away!" the officer answers.  
"I said, change the order!!!"  
"This is an order, remove the gun!"  
"CHANGE THE FUCKING ORDER!" Sans yells at him again.

* KABOOM!!! *

Another explosion hits the radio.  
It's completely broken.  
Sans hears the soldiers screaming outside.  
"Burn down the house, it's an order from the officer!"  
Sans lets go off the officer and rushes to the window.  
The soldiers are pouring gasoline over the house his brother is trapped in.  
Sans dashes out of the building, running the fastest he's ever run in his life towards the house engulfed in flames.  
Bombs fall from the sky.  
Soldiers are littering the ground, screaming out in pain, calling for help.  
But Sans continues running.  
His brother is trapped in there.  
His brother is trapped inside the house burning up.  
His brother is-!

He trips.

He hits his skull hard on the ground, the impact making his head spin.  
Everything is just a cacophony of uncomprehending noises and screams inside his skull.  
He tries to stand up.  
But he fails.  
He tries to rise on his knees.  
He tries to focus on the burning house just a couple of meters away from him.  
He tries so hard to reach it.  
But he can’t.  
He can't move, his body swaying back and forth and his head filled with buzzing noises and colors he can't decipher properly.  
Papyrus.  
Papyrus is still in there.  
Sans has to save him.  
He has to.

"Papyrus..."

"Pap...”

He blacks out.

~~~~

He wakes up.

Sans blinks, his eye sockets heavy and half-lidded as he tries to focus on what is in front of him.  
He's lying down on the dirty ground.  
There's dust everywhere, flowing with the wind, melding into the muddy soil.  
Everything around him is still too hazy, too muddled by weird colors and noises.  
But he sits up, slowly, taking in his surroundings.  
What is he doing here? Why is he lying on the ground? What-?  
He sees the burnt down building just a couple of meters away from him.

Papyrus…?

Oh god, no.

Sans forces himself to stand up, ignoring the dizziness trying to drag him back down again.  
Slowly, he starts walking towards the remains of the once small house.  
There's so much dust everywhere.  
Too much.

Where's Papyrus?

Where is he?!

Please...

God, please...

He reaches it, finally.  
He's just standing there for a moment, intently watching the dusty ground under his feet, desperately hoping that he's not stepping on what's left of his brother.  
God please, don't let him be...  
He sees something lying on the ground.  
It's small and shiny, covered in endless amounts of monster dust.  
He crouches down to pick it up.  
But stops mid-motion.  
He recognizes that small little thing.  
It's an ink-pencil.  
But not any ordinary ink-pencil.  
It's the exact same one he had bought for Papyrus' birthday all those years ago, a present given to his cool little brother on his 16th birthday.  
Suffocating dread washes over him as he slowly picks it up, hoping, wishing, begging for it to not be his, not his little brother's.  
Maybe it's not his. Maybe it's just some random pencil that happens to look just like Papyrus', maybe...  
He brushes away the dust with his arm sleeve.  
He turns it around.  
And just like that, all his hopes and dreams are crushed.  
The name "Papyrus" is engraved on the pencil.  
Just how Sans had ordered it to be.  
Fancy-looking letters, dirtied with dust.  
His dust…  
Sans stills.  
Stares.  
Until a sob manages to escape his gritted teeth.  
He's gone...  
His little brother... His little sunshine, his family, his everything...

He's dead…

He hears noises.  
People are walking on the roads, not noticing the skeleton monster sitting in the scorched remains.  
And Sans sees him.  
The officer.  
The one who ordered to burn all the hostages.  
The one who killed his dear brother.  
He killed him.  
That bastard killed his brother.

He... killed...

The skeleton suddenly stands up.  
His steps are staggering, his body swaying back and forth as he picks up the pace.  
He walks towards him, towards the bastard.  
And sees no one else but his target.  
He picks up a big rock on the way, clenching it hard in his fist.  
He starts running, closing in.  
He raises his arm, reading his aim as he stands just inches away from the murderer in front of him.  
And bashes the monster's head with the rock in his hand.  
The disgusting murderer falls to the ground.  
And Sans follows forth.  
He bashes the man's head, over and over and over again.  
Until there's only dust left for him to hit.  
But Sans isn't alone in his sudden state of retribution.  
Soldiers are grabbing him, dragging him away from the dusty ground.  
But those soldiers aren't his comrades.  
They're not even on his side in this god awful war that started it all.  
They're communists.  
The enemy has taken him hostage.  
But Sans doesn't care anymore.  
He has nothing left to live for anyway.  
He hopes that they'll kill him soon.  
Maybe then he'll get to see his brother again, just one more time.

~~~~

*One year later, June 1951  
*Military Hospital in South Korea.

A young man, 19 years old and greatly affected by the horrors of the war, is cleaning his clothes in one of the large sinks on the lawn outside the hospital building.  
Someone calls his name.  
It's a comrade, who fought with him in the war.  
"Papyrus!"  
Papyrus turns around, smiling at him in response and finishes his work to go talk to his comrade.  
"You look well." The man comments as they go for a walk.  
"Thanks." Papyrus responds, smiling at him politely. "You saved my life, back then. I owe you for that. I thought I was a goner in that cell."  
"Heh, I thought that to when we finally got out and you got shot by the communists. You really had luck on your side there!"  
Papyrus hummed at that.  
"So, when do you get out of here?" The soldier continues.  
"Next week."  
"Nice. It's great that you're finally getting discharged. Bet you mom's gonna’ be overjoyed once she gets to see ya' again!"  
Papyrus nods, feeling overjoyed himself that he finally will get to meet his mother again.  
"Oh yeah, uh, I got something for ya'."  
The soldier picks out a small letter out of his jacket.  
"Your brother tried to send this letter home, but it was returned to the camp. I thought maybe you wanted to keep it..."  
Papyrus stares at the letter in the soldier's hand for a moment, before slowly reaching his phalanges to receive it.  
"I don’t know if he actually retreated back then. I've looked for him all over, but..."  
"I don't want to know." Papyrus interrupts him, his previous smile turned into an angry frown.  
"Papyrus!"  
A nurse suddenly calls for him. "You're wanted in the counseling room!"  
"Oh, thank you. I'll be right there." Papyrus calls back. He says goodbye to his friend before he goes.

Later in the counseling room, Papyrus sits down by the table across from the two officers and waits for them to talk.  
But one of the officers slides a paper over to him instead, giving him a stern look.  
Papyrus is confused by the situation, but doesn't question it as he receives the Paper sheet and looks down at it.  
He stares.  
In any normal situation, Papyrus would've been shocked at what he was seeing.  
But after everything that his brother has done, he doesn't even have the energy to act surprised at the photo and the text on the paper.  
It's a communist propaganda paper.  
Large letters describing the communists power and determination to win the war is accompanied by a preposterous photo that no one ever would have imagined would exist.  
It's a photo of his brother, wearing the communists’ sergeant uniform, with the communist flag in the background.  
"Our decorated hero has turned into a communist." One of the Officers says, breaking the uncomfortable silence.  
"It's a serious problem for us, but a good propaganda tool for them." The other Officer continues. "At first, we didn't believe it, but his fiancée was executed as a communist. That must have affected him."  
"He doesn't know what communism or democracy is." Papyrus answers, not really sure how he's supposed to react at this point.  
"Then how come he turned into a communist?" One of the officers asks.  
"He wouldn't have done this if he thought of his family, would he?" The other officer continues. "I suppose there must be a reason."  
"You too, are a suspect, unless you give us a good explanation." The first officer warns the skeleton.  
"I don't care about Sans." Papyrus answers dead-panned, a deep scowl settling on his facial features. "The Sans I knew was just an innocent shoeshines boy who loved his family... Especially his little brother... The one who's got the medal and leads 'Flag Unit'... He is not my brother."

~~~~

Later on, during lunch time, Papyrus is eating his meal in deep thought when another comrade of his comes forward.  
“What happened to Sans? I was questioned too! Unbelievable! Sure, we expected him to become a captive but how could he become a communist?! After seeing his fiancée get shot to death and then..."  
He hesitates for a moment before continuing.  
"He must have thought that you were killed in the fire... God... And he tried so hard to protect you too- “  
Papyrus slams his fist on the table.  
He stands up, looking at his comrade with irritation.  
"I don't care about him." He growls lowly. "He's crazy about medals, so they must have offered him a good post! Maybe the damn communists offered him a better post than the one he got here!"  
Papyrus hurriedly walks away, regretting throwing a temper tantrum at someone who didn't deserve it.  
He would have to apologize later.

~~~~

Later that night, Papyrus can't sleep.  
~ He suddenly remembers the letter he got from his comrade earlier that day.  
So he decides to read it.  
He reaches into his jacket pocket, picking out and opening the letter, and starts reading it.  
"Dear mother.  
I miss you so much every day.  
Please stay well until we get back.  
And don't worry about Papyrus. I will definitely keep him safe, no matter what happens.  
The war is tough, but me and Papyrus is doing fine, so don't worry about us too much.  
Please say hello to **** for me.  
When we get back home, I promise you that I will work harder, and help you and **** with the noodle stand more.  
Take care of yourself and ****  
Sincerely, your son Sans."  
Papyrus finishes reading the letter, tears running down from his eye sockets as he recalls the good days back home before the war started.  
The times were Sans and him would hang out with Doggo, shining shoes for people on the streets.  
Sans trying to make his own pair of fancy shoes with whatever materials he could afford.  
The brothers working at the noodle stand together with their mom.  
The day Sans finally proposed to ****.  
The day when Sans gave him the ink-pencil with his name on it as a birthday gift.  
The days he wished he could go back to, experiencing them all again just one more time.  
He smiles to himself at the memories.  
And finally, he manages to sleep for another night.  
The next day, Papyrus comes to a decision that he never thought he would actually make ever again.  
"You're crazy to go back there!" One of his comrades argues as Papyrus puts on his battle gears, preparing himself to go back to the war one last time.  
"How can you be sure that you'll even find him?!" His friend continues, following Papyrus out of the hospital as he desperately tries to change the skeleton's mind.  
Papyrus doesn't answer him.  
"You'll be discharged in a week! Think about your mother!"  
Papyrus doesn't answer.  
"Please listen to me, Papyrus!"  
He reaches the jeep, climbing onto it before finally addressing the soldier following him.  
"See you soon." Papyrus says curtly, and signals for the driver to go.  
"Papyrus, wait!"  
But the jeep drives away, going back to battle.  
After some time of driving, Papyrus finally reached the camp preparing for the next battle against the communists.  
But as he asked the officer leading the soldiers about when and where he was supposed to battle, the officer refused,  
"You'll sit this one out." The man said curtly.  
Papyrus was not pleased by this turn of events.  
"Since the Americans moved the attack up 24 hours, there's no time. You'll speak over the microphone." The officer explained.  
"Sir, I'm Sergeant Sans' brother-"  
"Oh really? Well, it’s an honor to meet the brother of the traitor."  
"Sir, if I follow you into battle, he'll see that I’m alive and well! Surely, I can help you stop him and the Flag Unit!" I have to go!" Papyrus pleads to the Officer, but he doesn't listen.  
"We start the attack in an hour. There's not enough time-"  
"If he sees that I’m alive, he'll come back for sure!" Papyrus interrupts, desperate to join the soldiers and find his brother before it's too late. "Please let me go!"  
"Out of the question!" The Officer retorts, not giving in to Papyrus' pleads in the slightest. "Just read the script over the speaker." He finishes, and walks away, not giving the desperate skeleton any time to talk back.  
What is he supposed to do now...?  
How is he going to get to his brother, if he's not even permitted to join the battle against him?!  
Papyrus is ordered to go to the tent were the radio equipment is located.  
A supervisor asks for Papyrus' script.  
"Where is the script?"  
One of the soldiers handling the equipment answers him. "It's not been delivered yet. We thought the headquarters would give it to us."  
The supervisor sighs heavily, obviously troubled by the situation. He turns to Papyrus standing beside him.  
"Wait here for a moment" The man says before he walks out from the tent, leaving only Papyrus and two soldiers manufacturing the radio behind.  
Papyrus looks out over the crowds of soldiers, jeeps filled with people waiting for battle.  
40 minutes left, before it begins.  
Papyrus stares at nothing in deep thought.  
And he comes to another decision that he never thought he would ever make.  
But what does he got to lose really, at this point?  
He turns around, searches for something to strike with, and executes the plan to retrieve his brother.  
A moment later, the supervisor returns to the tent.  
He sees the two soldiers lying on the ground, one of them unconscious from the sudden hit on their heads.  
And Papyrus is gone.

~~~~

The skeleton is running, repeatedly turning his head back and forth to make sure that he's not being followed.  
He runs towards the enemy lines, hoping that he won't be killed right on the spot when the communists finally find him.  
Hopefully, he and his brother would get out of this alive, and finally get to return home.  
Together...

~~~~

He's walking down the stairs, a communist soldier pushing him down with a rifle poking his back threateningly. Papyrus is brought underground, to a room with a couple of soldiers and an Officer, if the fancy uniform the man is wearing is anything to go by.  
"What's going on?" The Officer asks with a scornful expression on his face, but quickly forms into one of slight confusion when he sees Papyrus and the South Korean uniform the skeleton is wearing.  
"He just surrendered." The soldier behind Papyrus replies curtly.  
"What?" The Officer rounds the table he just stood behind, advancing towards the hostage.  
"Surrendered?" He continues, looking at the skeleton monster with clear distaste.  
Standing just inches away, the authoritative man suddenly grabs Papyrus by the neck, staring deep into his hollow eye sockets with annoyance.  
"If you lie, you're dead. Why are you here?" The Communist Officer asks sternly.  
"I came here to see my brother, the leader of 'Flag Unit'." Papyrus answers, trying his hardest to not be intimidated by the enemy who could kill him without hesitation. "Please let me see him!"  
"What?" The Officer looks absolutely befuddled by Papyrus request, watching the skeleton with furious doubt. "I'll kill you if you're lying." He continues threateningly, before turning towards the soldier sitting in front of a radio. "Check it out."  
The soldier handling the radio hurriedly calls the quarters were the Flag Unit is located.  
"An enemy soldier is here saying he's the brother of Mother Owl. Confirm."  
"Let me talk to him!" Papyrus calls and tries to reach the radio, but is stopped by one of the communist soldiers.  
"Confirm."  
"He doesn't know I’m alive!" Papyrus tells the Officer, but he doesn't care.  
"Shut up!" He answers as he pushes Papyrus to the ground.  
"Negative." The soldier by the radio suddenly says. "He says his brother is dead."  
Papyrus dashes towards the radio, grabbing the phone handle in desperation to reach his brother.  
"Please, let me talk to him!" He yells, before putting the receiver to his face. "Sans, It's me, Papyrus! Sans-!"  
The radio man pushes him back, making the skeleton trip and fall to the floor.  
"You're a damn spy! What's your mission?! The Officer yells, roughly grabbing Papyrus by the neck and raising him up to his eye level. "Spit it out before I blow your head off!"  
"Let me talk to him, please!" Papyrus pleads, not answering the higher-up's question. "He'll know it's me!"  
"Stop screwing with me!" The man roars to his face.  
"I'm begging you-!"  
"What are you here for?!"  
"Sir!" The soldier by the radio suddenly calls, grabbing the attention of both the Officer and the skeleton monster being threatened by a gun to his face. "We've got an order to bring him to the security unit."  
The officer sneers at Papyrus, before pushing him off and ordering one of the soldiers to take him there.  
"Get him out of here!"  
Papyrus is lead out of the bunker room, entering the outside moats as the soldier behind him pushes him to move forward.  
Numerous communists are littering the battlefield, preparing their gears and positions to battle.  
The battle is about to begin any minute now; Papyrus realizes with building dread.  
He has to get to his brother in time. he has to.  
"ALERT! AIR ATTACK! ALERT!"  
The alarm blares over and over, making the soldiers run to their positions in a hurry to defeat the enemy soaring high up in the sky.  
The battle planes high above start dropping their huge explosives.  
And the battle finally begins.  
Explosion after explosion hits the vast battlefield and its colorful wildlife, burning up the tall grass and spreading dirt all over.  
Soldiers, armory, everything is hit and blown up, the remains skyrocketing through the air from the impact.  
The protective moats are far from executing their initial purpose, useless protection against the airplanes’ attacks.  
Papyrus tries to take cover from the gunshots and air bombs, but the communist leading him forces him to continue walking.  
"Hurry up, let's go!"  
"Are you crazy?!" Papyrus retorts, when suddenly, gunshots from the airplanes are fired in their direction, hitting the soldier pushing him around and instantly killing him.  
Papyrus runs through the moats, desperately trying to survive the incoming gunshots and explosions around him and find the Flag Unit.  
The South Korean army has now arrived. Thousands of soldiers are running towards the enemy, shooting with their rifles haywire.  
The communist soldiers run down to their enemy too, also wielding rifles and every equipment necessary to kill their opponent.  
The two opposing teams’ clashes, stabbing their enemy with the knifes attached at the end of their rifles, throwing grenades, shooting at each other.  
The violent battle on foot reaches the moats.  
And Papyrus is stuck in the middle of it all.  
The communist soldiers finally take notice of the running threat through the moats.  
And Papyrus fights them off, one after one.  
Suddenly, through the cacophony of screaming soldiers, repeating gunshots and loud explosions, someone yells;  
"IT'S THE FLAG UNIT!!!"  
And indeed, there they stand.  
High up on the hill filled with destroyed moats and dead bodies, runs an entire army of communists with red flags attached to their weapons and uniforms, hollering their battle screams as they hurriedly descend the steep hill, thirsting for their enemy's blood and dust.  
Papyrus is met with even stronger soldiers than he was ever prepared for.  
But he fights back with everything he got.  
Until finally, he sees him.  
A man in a fancier uniform than the other soldiers stands just a couple of meters away, stabbing a soldier in the stomach with a rifle bigger than the others, a red flag attached to the handle, to the man's hat, and to his right arm.  
Papyrus sees that the man is a skeleton.  
It's Sans! It must be!  
Papyrus desperately tries to reach him, fighting every soldier trying to get in his way.  
Until finally, finally, the skeleton turns around.  
And makes eye contact with Papyrus for the briefest of moments.  
But at that moment, Papyrus can't do anything else but just stare at his brother.  
The skeleton in front of him barely resembled the man who Papyrus had once called his brother anymore.  
His skull and entire face was filled with hairline cracks, some of them looking like they hadn't received any proper treatments at all.  
His usual permanent smile was gone, replaced with a furious frown and clenched teeth that were close to cracking from the pressure of his rigid jaws.  
And his eye sockets…  
Empty.  
Hollow, with dark shadows lingering on the edges, making him look like he hadn't slept for days.  
Papyrus reacts just in time as his brother suddenly dashes towards him, rifle in hand, trying to stab the younger skeleton in the chest.  
He ducks, tries to avoid the hits being thrown his way, while watching out for other communists who might join their leader on his hunt to kill.  
Sans suddenly pushes Papyrus against the moats walls with his rifle against the enemy's neck, pressing it down harder and harder in an attempt to crush the other's neck bones.  
Papyrus looks up at Sans' face, desperately trying to reach him, to make him snap out of his feral instincts.  
"Sans!"  
He can't help the indescribable horror that washes over him as he looks at Sans savaged state, seeing what has become of his older brother up close, seeing every detail of the cracks and scars littering his face and the way his brother growls and spits at him like a ferocious beast.  
Papyrus manages to push him off, but is hit by Sans' rifle and falls down to the ground, his older brother trying to stab his head.  
But Papyrus manages to grab the end of the rifle, the knife just inches away from piercing his face. He struggles to keep it away, but his brother is much stronger than the skeleton initially thought.  
Sans frown just deepens even further as frustration hits him, his opponent's resilience just further feeding the coiling rage inside of the communist officer.  
"You southern bastard..." Sans whispers threateningly, trying his damnedest to just push and push till he finally hits his target.  
"Sans! it’s me, Papyrus! Snap out of it!" Papyrus calls out for his brother, desperate to get him back to his senses.  
But Sans just ignores his words.  
"Die!!!" Sans screams out, just pushing and pushing and wishing for the bastard underneath him to just die already!  
"BROTHER PLEASE!!! IT'S ME!!! PAPYRUS!" Papyrus cries out, the horror of it all slowly starting to get to him as tears starts forming in his eye sockets. "PLEASE, WAKE UP!!!"  
"I'll kill you all...!" Sans mumbles, not wavering one bit from his mission to kill.  
Suddenly, a South Korean soldier hits Sans in the face.  
He staggers of Papyrus from the impact, but swiftly straightens up and stabs the soldier who attacked him in the chest.  
Sans easily manages to kill anyone who comes in his way, returning to fight Papyrus once more.  
But Papyrus is unarmed.  
All he can do is just to hope that he'll finally reach his brother, before it's too late.  
They continue to wrestle against each other, Papyrus ducking away from Sans' rapid stabbing motions.  
"Sans, please! It's me, your brother!!!"  
But Sans doesn't listen.  
He drops his weapon along the way of their intense roughhousing.  
Sans hits him with his bare fists, over and over and over.  
But Papyrus doesn't hit back.  
He ducks and dodges as best as he can.  
"Sans, wake up!!!"  
But Sans doesn't listen.  
Sans grabs a rifle he finds on the ground, pushing it against Papyrus once more as the other tries to grab it for himself.  
Papyrus manages to take it away from Sans.  
In a moment of pure survival instincts, Papyrus raises the rifle high in the air to bash it onto his brother's skull.  
But he stops, realizing just what he was about to do.  
And for the briefest of seconds, Sans just looks at him, momentarily confused as to why his opponent isn't hitting him.  
Papyrus throws the weapon away.  
Sans watches, silent.  
Until he screams, dashing towards his enemy with a raised fist.  
Their wrestling continues.  
At this point, Papyrus is battered by infinite amounts of cracks and bruises, small specks of marrow staining his face and clothing.  
He's getting tired.  
Too tired.  
No, no he can't give up now, he has to get to his brother, he can't-  
Another punch to the face.  
Papyrus falls back onto the mount wall, his skull dizzy and screaming for him to just lay down and finally lose consciousness.  
But he can't.  
Not yet, not now.  
He looks up.  
Sans is standing in front of him, pointing a rifle at him.  
Papyrus is too dazed by the sudden punch to the face to move.  
He can't...  
No... not like this...  
Please...  
He looks at his brother in horror, in desperation, in hope.  
But Sans only sees a threat.  
An enemy to be killed.  
And as so, he loads the rifle.  
He aims…

Until suddenly, he stops.

He lets out a choked gasp.  
And so does Papyrus.  
But for entirely different reasons...  
Sans drops his rifle.  
Hurriedly, with jerky, twitching movements, he reaches for his dagger in his pants' pocket.  
He raises it.  
And stabs the soldier who just stabbed Sans' spine from behind.  
He hits the fleshy monster’s stomach.  
He turns around to stab the soldier, over and over and over.  
Until he falls to the ground, groaning in pain.  
Papyrus is shocked.  
But he hurriedly reaches for his brother, dread hanging heavily over him as he tries to see where the soldier’s weapon hit.  
Sans was hit in the back of his spine, around the chest kyphosis area.  
It wasn't a fatal hit, thank god.  
But if he didn't treat it soon, it could cost his brother his life.  
Papyrus tries to take the jacket off of his brother, but Sans is stubbornly trying to push him away, despite the lingering pain in his back hitting him when he tries to move around.  
"Sons of bitches..." Sans hisses, thrashing around as he tries to resist Papyrus' help, breathing heavily and groaning out curses at every wave of agony hitting him over and over.  
"You South Korean piece of shit...!" He growls, using all of his strength that's left to push the enemy off of him, failing miserably.  
"Sans, please..." Papyrus voice wobbles, anxiety hitting him hard as he desperately tries to keep his brother from dying.  
"State guard bastards..." Sans continues, never stopping his stubborn thrashing and useless insults.  
"Please come to your senses!" Papyrus wails, tears finally falling from his eye sockets as all kinds of terrifying emotions tries to suffocate him, tries to kill all the hope he has left for his brother, telling him to give in to the grief and just give up on everything.  
But Papyrus refuses.  
He's never going to give up on his brother ever again.  
He has to stay hopeful.  
He has to stay determined!  
He has to!  
"Look at me! I'm Papyrus, your only brother!" Papyrus yells at him, holding his brother firmly by his shoulders.  
But Sans doesn't listen.  
"Die!!!" He continues to bark as he tries to shake the threat off of himself.  
"I AM YOUR BROTHER, SANS!!!"  
But Sans still doesn't listen.  
"Die, all you piece of shits!!!" Sans screams out, pushing the enemy away from him as much as he can.  
But Papyrus doesn't budge.  
He won't ever budge, not for his brother, not when he’s in such a dire need for help.

Suddenly, the South Korean soldiers are screaming again;  
"RETREAT!!! RETREAT!!!"  
The Flag Unit are victorious in the battlefield.  
As a result, Papyrus' comrades are retreating.  
But Papyrus won't go with them, not without his brother.  
So Papyrus lifts his brother up against his will, letting him lean onto him as they slowly descent the steep hill.  
Bombs are still falling and exploding around them.  
Soldiers are still shooting at each other.  
And Sans is still resisting his brother's help, persistently making a fruitless attempt to push his enemy away.  
They both trip over the deep mounds and countless of dead bodies, over and over.  
But Papyrus won't give up.  
They fall to the ground.  
Only to rise up once again.  
"Come on Sans, get up!" Papyrus encourages his dear brother, desperate for the both of them to survive this war together.  
And he gets up.  
He doesn't answer.  
But he's still alive.  
He's lets his almost limp body get dragged by Papyrus, leaning on the enemy’s shoulder completely in his state of exhaustion.  
"You have to come with me Sans...!" Papyrus states firmly, not ever giving up on his brother.  
Sans doesn't answer.  
But he always rises up again whenever they fall down, with the help of his enemy.  
He limply leans on Papyrus, almost losing consciousness.  
"Let's go brother, we have to hurry!"  
Sans still doesn't answer.  
But still, he's alive.  
Papyrus hurries down the hill, practically carrying his brother at this point.  
They fall down on the dirty ground again.  
And this time...  
Sans doesn't get up.  
"Brother, come on! We have to go! We have to go NOW!!!" Papyrus cries out to his brother, shaking him and trying to get him to stand up again.  
Sans doesn't answer him.  
He just thrashes around on the ground, still resisting, still looking at the person in front of him as his enemy, a monster that needs to be killed.  
He tries to push Papyrus away.  
"We have to get out of here, Sans!" Papyrus screams at him, trying to reach him, trying to get him to stand up again, wishing, hoping, begging for him to just please, please get up!  
But Sans doesn't listen to him.  
He doesn't answer.  
He just pushes him off, thrashes around in furious bloodthirst, breathing heavily and groaning from the injury on his spine.  
Papyrus stares at him.  
He cries at him, grabs him by the collar of his jacket.  
And leans his chin on top of his brother's chest, watching him with crushing grief and devastation.  
"Don't you care about our mom?" Papyrus cries, begging for whatever mighty powers above to just save his brother, make him snap out of his savaged state, make him understand that his little brother is right here, right in front of him.  
"You have to take care of **** grave, don't you?!" He continues, not giving in, not giving up, not leaving his older brother behind.  
Sans stares.  
He doesn't answer.  
He stops trashing.  
"You promised so many things Sans!" Papyrus wails, not taking notice of Sans' change in behavior.  
Sans still stares.  
"You can't die here!" Papyrus sobs, looking at his brother, watching for any kind of recognition in those hollow eye sockets staring back at him.  
"You have to live to see me go to college! Come on Sans!" Papyrus continues, never faltering, never giving up, watching his brother face to face in dreadful anticipation.  
Sans stares.  
Papyrus stares back, his eye sockets filled with an ugly mix of determination and fear.

"Please Sans..."

He still stares….

"Please, wake up..."

…He still stares…

......

He blinks.

Once.

Twice.

And stares again.

"Please..."

Sans stares....

Suddenly.

He raises a hand up to Papyrus' face.

Slowly, shakily.

He touches, eye lights slowly flickering in his eye sockets.

And his face turns to one of utter shock.  
"Papyrus?"

Papyrus stares back, almost not believing what he was seeing or hearing.

"Sans?!"

They just stare at each other in shock and relief for a moment.

Until they both fall into heavy fits of sobs.

"You're really alive...!" Sans speaks up, not tearing his gaze away from his little brother one second.  
Papyrus answers with a choked sob, crushing his brother into a hug, not showing any signs of letting go anytime soon.  
Sans hugs him back, his relief instantly morphing into horror when he finally realizes were they are and what's happening around them.  
He pushes Papyrus away.  
"Go! You need to go now!" Sans says hurriedly, staring desperately at his younger brother.  
"No Sans, I won't go without you!" Papyrus retorts, hell-bent on getting his brother out of here with him.  
"Just go!" Sans begs in his sudden state of panic, the fact that he's almost fatally wounded wiping out the few chances they have to both get out of this alive.  
Not when the communists are getting so close to them.  
There's no way they'll be able to outrun them if Papyrus has to carry Sans.  
"No way!" Papyrus continues to retort. "Get up and come with me!"  
"Listen!" Sans yells, desperate to get Papyrus to understand that he can't come with him. "I will surrender and come home after the war!"  
He raises both of his hands, reaches out and cups papyrus' face.  
"I've been making shoes that I wanted to give to you when you go to college. I haven't finished them yet, so I won't give up and die here, you hear?!"  
Sans whines suddenly, reminding him of the injury still lingering on his back.  
"Sans! I won't go without you!"  
"I'm okay, Pap." Sans replies, trying to reassure his brother that he will be fine. "Do as I tell you, go!"  
"NO! I'm not leaving you!" Papyrus stubbornly continues to retort.  
"Papyrus please, GO!" Sans yells to him in desperation, but Papyrus won't budge.  
"No, let's go together Sans!"  
"If we go together we'll both die!!!" Sans retorts, fat, overwhelming tears falling down his cheeks at the fear of losing his little brother again.  
"No, we won't!” Papyrus tries to argue, but deep down, he knows the risks of carrying Sans while running from the enemy. What if Sans were to be shot in the back by the communists? what if they would trip too many times for Sans to hold on anymore? What if-!  
"Listen to me!" Sans screams at him.  
Papyrus stays silent, listening intently to his brother.  
"Look at me. Believe me." Sans says, looking deep into the other's eye sockets as he utters the reassuring words.  
Sans then reaches his left hand into his jacket pocket, and brings out a small object that Papyrus recognizes all too well.  
It's his ink-pencil. the one with his name engraved onto.  
"I found this after the fire." Sans explains, giving it to Papyrus, who loosely clutches his brother's hand holding the pencil, but doesn't accept the gift.  
"Give it to me... when we meet again." Papyrus replies woefully, pushing the pencil back to Sans.  
Sans answers with a nod, clutching the ink-pencil tightly in his bony fist.  
"You have to come back..." Papyrus begs to him. "You have to come back!"  
Sans answers him with a rub on the skull and a clank to his brother's forehead, clutching the pencil in his hand even tighter as Papyrus squeezes his hands on top of Sans'.

After their shared moment of silent acquiescence, Sans is the one to let go first, until Papyrus finally does the same.  
He stands up, looking down on his brother just one more time before parting.

Sans meets his gaze.

And for the first time in a very long time, even if a bit strained,

Sans smiles at him.

His silence telling him to go.

That he'll be fine.

That they'll see each other again, soon enough.

And Papyrus trusts him.

He turns away, not looking back.

And he runs.

Bombs are still falling from the sky, although, they're much fewer this time.

Gunshots are fired, but the sound of them doesn't repeat as much as before.

Papyrus debates on whether it's worth it to look back or not.

But even if he did, he probably wouldn't be able to see his brother through the smoke, dust and fleeing soldiers.

So he continues running.

Not looking back.

And he dreams, wishes, hopes,

That his brother will be alright. And that he'll get to see him again.

~~~~

*40 years later...

40 years goes by.  
After leaving your older brother behind, with the promise of seeing each other again in the future, you finally got home.  
You found your mother, re-opening the good-old noodle stand that you honestly never thought would see the light of day again, not after what you and your family had gone through.  
But there it was, that time so long ago were you walked through the streets of your home town, searching for the remains of your family.  
Thankfully, your mother wasn't alone.  
Sans' fiancé’s siblings were still around, being taken care of and taking care of what was left of their home.  
And when you finally reached them, your mother looking up from her work to see who it was walking towards her, she hastily rushed over the few meters that was left between you two and tightly held you in the deepest of hugs you've ever received from her, her shaking form desperate for the reassurance that you were indeed standing there in front of her, that it wasn’t just a dream.  
She didn't let go for a long while as she sobbed in relief and gratitude that her son was alive and well.  
Or... at least, you were alive.  
But you weren't really "well", so to speak.  
Not mentally, that is.  
Because while you and your family tried your hardest to recover from the horrors of war and raise your economy after not being able to run the noodle stand, you still held the grief and anxiety that had followed you throughout every battle, every moment of seeing your comrades die, seeing all the monsters’ dust blow away with the wind and cover the muddy ground of the battlefield…  
You started having nightmares.  
Really horrible ones at that.  
The ones were you would wake up screaming, hyperventilating, calling out for your dear brother in panicked fear of his safety.  
Only to realize that Sans wasn't there.  
Not at the moment, at least.  
No matter how much you wished to see him sleeping in his bed beside you, rapidly rising up from his deep slumber when hearing your screams and hurriedly run over to comfort you, to tell reassurances like "It's okay bro, I’m here, I'm right here. It’s just a dream.",  
He wouldn't be there when you woke up.  
And as time went on, you grew used to not seeing your brother's sleeping form on the empty bed just a couple of meters away from yours.  
You grew used to not eating breakfast with him, got used to the absence of his annoying jokes and goofy laughter.  
You got used to the fact that Sans wasn't there.  
Not at the moment, at least...  
Days became weeks, weeks became months, until they eventually grew to years and years of waiting, of hoping.  
You finally got to go back to college and study your favorite fields again.  
You finally got to meet new friends there, people around your age, some of them having gone through the same horrible trauma as you did.  
And they could understand your pain of losing a loved one and the grief that followed with it.  
They could understand those rare moments were you suddenly felt like you couldn't breath and fell to the floor, hyperventilating in intense distress when you suddenly got your eye sockets locked on something that triggered something deep inside you, a memory that you desperately wanted to forget.  
Like horror movies that contained gore. Especially those horrible ones with monsters eating the flesh of another human being, screaming out in pain, desperate for help and survival.  
Or a random skeleton monster wearing a war uniform walking down the streets.  
Those historical exhibitions about the South Korean war against the communists in the North.  
Accidentally seeing a copy of the communists’ old propaganda papers with your brother's scarred face on them.  
You get through those moments, those so called panic attacks.  
With the help of your family and friends, you get through it all.  
One day, after graduating college and getting a degree, your family and friends starts suggesting that, maybe, you should meet someone to talk to.  
Someone who you can dump all your problems over and help you solve them, one after another.  
"Maybe it would be good for you to talk with a therapist?" They all suggest.  
And you take the offer.  
Because you've heard about it all before, how much it helps to move on from things when you get to sort through them with a professional, someone who's an expert on traumas and mental illnesses like depression and PTSD.  
So you decide to meet this one therapist, some sort of furry monster that you can't quite tell what exact sub-species he belongs to.  
You get along pretty well throughout your time together, meeting at his clinic once in a week and carefully bringing up the sensitive subjects you’re suffering from.  
You begin talking about the good times before the war, about your brother and his interests, your pretty much adopted siblings, your mother, and all the wonderful memories you've made with them ever since you were a baby bones.  
After some weeks of childhood nostalgia conversations, you begin to talk about the day were you and your brother were forced to join the army.  
The horror of seeing your comrades being killed right in front of your eyes, a gunshot through the head, repeating stabs to their abdomen, being burned alive by the enemy’s fire.  
Your brother slowly turning into something much more morbid, a mad man who kills without any hesitation, without any second thoughts.  
Until you eventually come to the subject of the last time you saw him.  
Leaving him behind on the ferocious battlefield.  
On the brink of death...  
You cried heavily at that moment, an old wound inside your very soul opening up and being infected with toxic grief and guilt.  
Because even if your brother reassured you that he would be okay, that he would come home soon enough,  
You still left him behind.  
And you can't help the crippling guilt that came with that decision, slowly choking you with heavy sobs and mumbled apologies.  
Your therapist doesn't push you, patiently letting you take your time and giving you advice on how to see the situation from different perspectives.  
He tells you that what happened isn't your fault.  
He tells you that you did what you thought was right, and that is okay.  
He tells you that your brother surely won’t blame you for it at all if he ever comes back.  
You still for a moment.  
If…?  
If he comes-?  
You look at him, confused at his choice of phrasing the last sentence.  
Until you realize what he was implying.  
Because if you were to be completely honest, you've never really thought about the other possibility that might have happened. It just never came to your mind that maybe, just maybe...  
Your brother might not come home.  
Your brother might not be alive at this point in time.  
Your brother might be...  
You stare down to your lap, slightly shocked at the contingent thought that you’ve never had the idea of entertaining in your life after the war.  
Because you always held on to that hope, that desperation for your brother to be alive, to be safe and well, and to finally come home again and be a constant part of your slightly dysfunctional life puzzle.  
But that hope might as well be a long lost dream, never to be fulfilled.  
It might as well just be a ridiculous fantasy, for all you know.  
And that realization, that horrible, horrible possibility that it might be true, that it all might be a solid fact...  
It's agonizingly painful, not knowing what to believe in anymore.  
Was there any use for you to even hope anymore?  
Was your brother really alive?  
Or was he always doomed by fate to die on that steep hill filled with dust and corpses?  
"Your brother might be dead, but..."  
You look up from your lap, numbly waiting for what your therapist was to say next.  
"That shouldn't be a reason for you to give up hope, should it?"  
You blink at him insensibly, unsure of how to answer his question.  
But as you took in his words and thought about it...  
He was right, wasn't he?  
Just because your brother might or might not be dead, doesn't it mean that you wouldn't be able to move on with your life.  
You still had plenty of reasons to keep on going, with or without your brother by your side.  
You had a great job with great payment, a working place where you got along with everyone and everyone seemed to like you there.  
You had a loving family, a mother who was unfortunately bedridden, but still caring for both you and your much younger siblings, who also loved and cared for you as much as they could at their young age.  
You had great friends around you, some of them from college and others that you're still getting to know a bit better each day that goes by.  
You had a great life, even if it was tainted by past memories of war and loss.  
But still, it was your life.  
And it was one that you treasured greatly.  
Your brother might not ever be a part of that lifestyle, but that didn't give you any logical reason to just stop living, to stop hoping for things to be better in the future.  
So, with the help of your therapist, your family and friends,  
You came to accept the fact that your brother could be dead.  
That you might not ever get to see him again.  
But that was okay.  
Sure, it was sad and very depressing to know this fact, but still, it was a prospect that you had to accept in order to move on.  
So, one day, you decided to make that acceptance official, make it something real and tangible for your hands to touch and for your eye sockets to see and remember.  
Not with guilt, not with sorrow.  
But with pride and hope.  
With the help of your adoptive siblings, you made a small memorial to your brother's honor.  
You and your siblings decided to build it beside your father's memorial, the one you and your brother had built all those years ago when he passed away.  
You finished it during the evening of that same day, photos of your brother standing on fancy pedestals decorated with lace, pretty shells and rocks, ribbons and so much more that your family had to offer.  
At that moment, seeing the finished memorial and all the framed photos littering it, a heavy weight had lifted itself from your languid shoulders.  
And for the first time in a very long time,  
You felt content.

~~~~

More years went by.

It all felt like it went by so fast, now that you look back on all the fond memories you've made.  
Before you knew it, you had gotten yourself a lover.  
And soon enough, the two of you got married.  
Not long after that, you got kids.  
Two siblings, your daughter the oldest and your son the youngest.  
You all moved in to a big house, not far away from where you originally lived with your mother, who unfortunately had passed away due to old age.  
You had a pleasant life, being promoted to supervisor at your job, living with a loving partner and with wonderful children.  
You were content.  
Even if you still hadn’t heard of your brother’s existence after all these years, you were content with life just the way it was.

40 years has gone by.

you're 59 years old now, soon to be 60.

Your children has grown up to be fine adults, your daughter studying quantum physics on an expertise level, and your son seeking a profession in visual arts.  
They have moved out of the house, seeking for new experiences and people to share them with.  
But they often come over to visit, telling you about their resent adventures and accomplishments through life.  
You and your lover gladly listens to them, pride swelling up in your chests in unison.  
You still feel very content with life, and honestly, you wouldn't want it any other way than how it is right now.  
Your daughter is visiting, helping you with cleaning the dishes after a nice lunch at your house, when the ringing sound of a phone starts echoing through the kitchen.  
"I'll get it!" Your daughter says, walking over to the phone and answering it. "Hello, Arial speaking!"  
"Oh?... Ah, yes, he's here. I'll call him over."  
"Dad?" she suddenly calls for you. "The army headquarters is on the phone!"  
You freeze.  
You turn around, looking at your daughter in confusion.  
The army? Why would the army call for you after all these years?  
You swiftly finish with whatever it was you were doing, and walk over to your daughter, receiving the phone and putting it to the side of your skull were your ear would be.  
"Hello?" You answer a bit hesitantly. "Yes, It’s Papyrus speaking... Oh... Are you sure? ... Alright... I'll be there in a bit...Yes, goodbye..."  
You put down the phone.  
And stare at it for a moment in deep cogitation.  
"What did they say? Was it about your brother?" Your daughter speaks up, seemingly curious about the sudden turn of events taking place around you.  
You don't answer her, at first.  
She waits patiently, not really sure whether she should push the subject or not.  
Until you finally turn to face her.  
"Could you drive for me?" You finally answer her.  
You tell her about the conversation with the army headquarters.  
She understands the severity of the situation, and goes out to start the car.  
You put on your formal wear, crouching down to the lowermost drawer to pick out a box containing something very special to you.  
You open the box.  
And pick out the shiny shoes inside of it.  
You still remember the day you found them.  
How much you cried that day at seeing them, reminding you so much of your older brother.  
*"I've been making shoes that I wanted to give to you when you go to college. I haven't finished them yet, so I won't give up and die here, you hear?!"  
You put them on.  
You walk out to the car, sitting on the backseat.  
And the car drives towards its destination.

~~~~

It takes a while for you and your daughter to reach the site where the Korean War Excavation team is currently working.  
The car drives up on a hill, filled with people who are either doing some kind of paper work on their make-shift, plastic tables, or digging deep pits in the ground with shovels in their hands.  
It seems like the Excavation team has built a camp around this vast place, open tents filled with wood boxes, tables filled with ruined armory and other gears used in a war, huge banners titled "Memorial site for souls of the Korean War"...  
You exit the car with your daughter, the both of you looking around the place in slight dread.  
All over the hill, there's numerous pits that the people around the place has dug up, all of them finding various objects under the ground.  
Human corpses, uniforms, helmets, weapons...  
Suddenly, it hits you.  
You've been here before.  
You finally realize the eerie resemblance between this place and the one you stood on all those years ago.  
This is where you battled the last time in the war.  
This is where you and your brother fought each other.  
This is where you left him, the last time you saw him...  
A shiver runs down your spine at the horrible memories.  
But you ignore it, as much as you can.  
"Are you okay, dad?" Your daughter suddenly asks you, looking at you with worry in her eye sockets.  
You turn to her, trying your best to give her a reassuring smile.  
"Oh, yes, I'm fine. Don't worry." You reply, as the both of you start walking towards the tents in hopes of finding the one who called you.  
A man advances towards you, asking you if you're the one they had called earlier. You say yes, and without further introduction, he leads you and your daughter towards the digging site littered with pits and remains of the war.  
The three of you stop in front of a small, empty pit in the middle of the steep hill. Beside the pit is a white sheet on the ground.  
There's various kinds of broken and torn objects on top of it.  
You freeze where you stand.  
You recognize these objects, somehow.  
There's a huge broken rifle, rusted and beyond repair from all these years going through mother nature's weather.  
There's a pair of ugly boots, too small in shoe-size for any adult human to wear.  
Much like the boots you used to wear during the war. It was hard to come by a good pair of boots if you were a skeleton...  
There's a uniform, tattered, dirty and with three separate holes in the chest area, most likely caused by gunshots.  
It's a sergeant uniform, you can tell. The shoulder pads decorated with three stars on each side, the jacket looking a lot fancier than the one you used to wear during the war...  
There's a red string of fabric on the jacket's right arm sleeve.  
During all this observation, you felt the initial dread building in your chest, heavier and heavier to the point where you were slouched down on your knees, never leaving your gaze from the broken objects in front of you.  
‘It may not be his’, you desperately try to convince yourself, hanging on to that one last sliver of hope that maybe, maybe, these objects doesn't belong to him, maybe-  
There's one last thing lying on the soiled sheet.

You watch it closer.

You pick it up.

And you read the name that's engraved on the old ink-pencil in your shaking hand.

"Papyrus"

Tears fall down your cheeks, dripping down on the dirty pencil.

The sliver of hope has been tainted, violated, crushed.

Turned to dust.

Just like your brother.

Your daughter is crouching beside you, rubbing your back, telling you words of reassurance.

You readily accept them.

And you continue to look down on the once silvery treasure in your hand.

You take a deep breath.

And you speak to your brother one last time.  
"You promised... to come back and finish the shoes... but what are you doing here?" You begin, talking to no one but yourself and the fictitious imagination of your brother sitting right in front of you, listening intently to every word you have to say.  
"I've waited for so long... what happened to your promise?" You ask no one.  
And he doesn't answer.  
"Sans... I've been hoping to see you for forty years now... Please answer me..."  
No one answers.  
"I shouldn't have left you alone back then... You shouldn't have told me to..."  
No one answers.  
"Sans..." you sob, hugging the ink-pencil to your chest tightly, ignoring the worried looks from your daughter and the strangers around you.  
"I'm so sorry..." You whisper to him.  
And the imagination smiles reassuringly, like your brother always did when you made a mistake and regretted it deeply.  
You imagine him telling you that it's okay, that he's sorry for breaking your promise, that he'll make it up to you someday.  
“You better." You imagine yourself answering him with a teary but relieved chuckle.  
And he answers with a noogie to your skull.  
You just sit there for a while, with your daughter by your side, telling you how sorry she is for the loss, reassuring you that your brother would be very proud of you, that even if he's dead, as long as you carry on your memories of him, he won't truly ever be gone, as cheesy as that sentence sounds.  
You believe every word she says.  
Because you know that everything good that everyone speaks of your brother is true.  
Sans would never hold a grudge against you.  
He doesn't ever regret letting you go without him, because that's exactly what he wanted.  
He cared so much about you and your safety.  
If he were here, he would’ve been proud of everything you have accomplished, happy that you’ve managed to live on in felicity together with your friends and family.  
So you stop the tears of guilt welling up in your eye sockets.  
You let go of the grief and sorrow clinging to your very being, after all these years of fruitless waiting.  
And you stop blaming yourself for his death.  
Doing that won't change anything in the long run.  
It would only hurt you till the end of your existence if you were to keep these meaningless grudges against yourself and the choices you’ve made.  
So you stop.  
And you move on for a second time.

~~~~

Your daughter drives you home.  
You let her sleep over at your house, just for the sake of reassuring her that you'll be fine throughout the night.  
Who knows if another nightmare were to haunt you again, right?  
"Rubbish!" You retort jokingly, as the both of you say your goodnight's and sleep well's.  
But before you go to bed with your partner, you needed to do one last thing before you forgot about it in the morning.  
You enter the living room and sit down in front of your brother's memorial, this one much fancier and bigger than the one you had in your childhood home.  
You pick out the rusty ink-pencil with your name on from your pocket.  
You place it in front of one of the many, framed pictures of your dear brother lined up on the pedestals, old rocks, shells and ribbons decorated neatly around them.

You stare at the pencil and at the numerous faces of your beloved family member for a moment.

Until a genuine smile of acceptance steadily grows on your skeletal features.

"Goodnight Sans." You say to your brother warmly, before standing up and heading back to bed.

Nobody answers…

And you are content.


End file.
